Environment and natural resources
China's climate change chief on Trump: wise leaders don't resist global trends
Four days after the Paris Agreement goes into force, the United States will hold its presidential election. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said in the past that he would “cancel the Paris climate agreement,” prompting a reporter to ask China’s special representative for climate ...
New guidelines on impact assessments almost ready
Civil society groups are getting closer to unveiling a new set of guidelines that will change how the impact of big development projects is assessed across the Mekong region, NGOs said on November 1, following the end of a two-month public consultation period. Activists, however, ...
Laos, China agree to strengthen border security
Laos and China have reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen cooperation in the maintenance of security along their shared border with the signing of a new agreement. The agreement was signed by the Head of the National Boundary Committee Office of the Ministry of Foreign ...
Three Mandalay projects delayed pending review
Three Mandalay Region development projects approved under the previous government are being reconsidered under the National League for Democracy administration. The projects are temporarily stalled while experts study potential negative impacts on the local environment and the public, officials have noted. Organising committees have been formed ...
Wooden furniture manufacturers beg for support
The HCM City Fine Arts and Woodworking Association predicted that Vietnam may reach $7.6 billion from timber and wooden exports in 2016, an increase of 10 percent compared to 2015. Meanwhile, experts have repeatedly warned of the danger of falling behind other regional countries. Vietnam urged to ...
Nearly $1 billion in forest carbon finance committed in 2015
The inclusion of the UN’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation program, known as REDD+, as a standalone article in the Paris Climate Agreement was widely hailed as an encouraging political signal that protecting forests and other valuable carbon sinks would henceforth be a ...
Experts warn Mekong Delta agriculture, livelihoods face serious threats
Even though the latest El Niño wound down in Vietnam in September, it left in its wake diminished water supplies, risks to people’s health and food security, and a loss of livelihoods. The effects of the severe drought that the El Niño weather phenomenon—exacerbated by climate change—delivered ...
NA members want tougher oversight on chemical use
National Assembly members have proposed that the government impose tougher measures in managing the distribution and use of dangerous chemicals so they can be brought under control. NA members expressed their wish on October 31 when debating the NA’s Standing Committee oversight of social and environmental ...
Myanmar's logging ban feeds shadow economy of illegal trade
Sitting in a shop on the riverfront in Mandalay just last week, Win Nyunt assessed whether it was safe to hide a ton of illegally logged teak in a nearby monastery at midnight. “If I put the logs in the monastery it is safer, but I ...
Philippines says China ships still at shoal, but fishermen unhindered
China has scaled down its presence at a disputed South China Sea shoal but has not interfered with Filipino fishermen, the Philippine president’s security adviser said on October 30, after the administration had said China had withdrawn completely. Hermogenes Esperon said Chinese ships were still present ...
